#119 - Metacognition for Life Itself

Hi Everyone

As most of you have realised, it was a rare gap in posting of this newsletter last week whilst I was travelling in America. Having passed through five different States to witness New England in the ‘fall’, I have to say that Vermont was my favourite, and yes, we brought back maple syrup direct from the farmer who produced it! Other highlights were eating lobster rolls in Cape Cod, and a trip around ‘The Breakers’, summer home to the Vanderbilts during the Gilded Age.

Before leaving the UK, my last piece of work was delivering a session for ‘support staff’ at St Christopher’s School in Bahrain, enabling a large group of individuals to ‘experience’ metacognition for themselves. I often write about metacognition in the classroom, but not everyone works with children in a teaching capacity. It’s still important however for everyone to know how to develop metacognitive skills for themselves, as well as understanding its significance for the next generation.

It’s impossible to achieve ‘success’ without metacognition, so being able to think in a metacognitive way is a requirement for anyone interested in making progress of any kind, which is likely to be most of us. Often portrayed as a formal reflection cycle for students, it’s actually the mental skill that allows us to recognise when something isn’t working to our advantage, and be able to change what we’re thinking in order to achieve a different result.

Decision making is an essential life skill, but not everyone stops to think about what those decisions are based on, or what unconscious factors may be influencing how we decide. That’s what my presentation for support staff is mainly drawing attention to, (entitled; Metacognition for Life – The Art of Changing Your Mind), highlighting that using metacognition is a very ‘conscious’ process, enabling us to analyse our own thought processes more carefully and reconsidering previous decisions that may not have led where we actually wanted to be.

We visited the past, present and future to look at how those three very different concepts are held inside our heads all at the same time. Because they all exist in our minds at any given moment, we can change how we think and feel about any of it, at any time, if we choose to do so. One example is when something major happens to interrupt the vision we’re holding onto about our own future, making it impossible to continue on the original path.

We all face life changing events at some point; eg; accident, illness, death of a family member, divorce, redundancy, financial crisis, betrayal, failure to qualify, etc. These things can change the trajectory of our planned future and some people lose their mental health struggling to get back on the original path which is actually no longer there. Metacognition however is what allows us to recognise the need to plan a new future and find a positive direction in which to move forwards from where we find ourselves now.

A major life skill indeed, and one that schools have started to recognise as an essential part of student progress in education. That ability to realise that you’re on the wrong track because the results you seek are not materialising, and then to make a conscious choice to change direction in order to achieve your goal, is the only way to make academic progress, in the same way as it is for decision making in life. I would also add that it’s a strong contributing factor for good mental health.

There are many reasons why children and young people might not have developed metacognition naturally and the traditional school system itself actually curtails learners’ abilities in that direction. If a school genuinely wants to develop metacognition in their students, then teachers have to take an adapted approach in the classroom. Not only will you be improving the educational and life chances of the children in your care, you’ll improve school results, your own enjoyment of teaching, and everyone’s mental health at the same time.

Some teachers however, having read the theory, still feel at a loss as to what kind of changes they need to make in order to naturalise metacognition in the classroom. I will start sharing here and continue next week with some of the ideas contained in a presentation I will be delivering for some teachers in Nigeria this weekend, which allow students to think for themselves, whilst allowing the teacher to ‘see’ their thought processes.

Firstly, when planning lessons, it’s important (as mentioned in previous issues) that the teacher focuses on providing students with an ‘experience’ from which to learn. It needs to always contain at least some elements of; physical activity, aroused curiosity, involved emotions, novel ideas, students’ questions, and time to reason, if it is to truly engage learner’s minds.

Why not try this week, dividing the classroom into 2 parts, creating a ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ side, then make a statement (not factual, more of a what if… situation, related to the curriculum area they’re studying at the moment), and invite students to move to the side that resonates most with them. The whole activity is then carried on out loud, where you facilitate and listen to the ensuing conversations, encouraging everyone to share (with no judgements of any kind allowed), only correcting any misconceptions, providing brief reminders of previous learning, or praising participation.

Notice we are not looking for right and wrong answers, just the opportunity for students to ‘reason’. Invite someone from each side to state ‘why’ they chose that side and invite others to comment on those reasons. Everyone is invited to move sides at any point they wish to, as this demonstrates the value of changing your mind in the light of new information. They do not have to agree with each other and you do not have to approve or disapprove of one side or the other. You just want them to start thinking for themselves!

More next time.

Warm regards

Liz